


Of Roommates and Comfort

by nihonlove



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Denial of Feelings, Fluff, M/M, Roommates, Sexual Confusion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-09
Updated: 2014-03-09
Packaged: 2018-01-15 03:21:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1289245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nihonlove/pseuds/nihonlove
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eren comes home to find his roommate and best friend looking a bit different than usual. And that stirs something inside him. College Rommate Eremin AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Roommates and Comfort

**Author's Note:**

> My first contribution to this fandom. Inspired by the simple fact that I decided to wear my hair up after showering once and the fact that Armin and I share the same hairstyle.

It was at exactly nine PM on a Friday night that Eren Jaeger was allowed to write down his work hours and leave his part-time job at the local semi-formal restaurant and head home. Although the night was still fairly young, especially by the standards of college students on Fridays, having been on his feet for hour rushing to that direction and then the other, usually while trying to balance often rather heavy plates of food on his hands and arms, Eren didn’t quite feel up to extending his night any further by heading off to a club or something. Instead he decided to just go home, take a shower and then maybe play some video games, or watch a movie or TV, before heading to bed.

Eren bundled up into his winter coat, hat and scarf and waved bye to some of his coworkers he saw on his way out, before stepping into the cold January night air. It was a fairly nice night, clear and dark. Eren, almost by indistinct alone, looked up at the sky to see if any stars were out. He couldn’t see any, but couldn’t really tell if it was because the city lights, some of which he was walking underneath just this moment, or if it was just cloudy tonight. Eren originated from a fairly small town where you could always see the stars if the night was clear, but after having moved to this bigger city for college, he rarely had the chance to see them. Although he didn’t regret his choice of coming here, small things like this could at times make him feel a bit nostalgic and homesick, not that he’d admit it. He sighed, his warm breath creating a puff of mist, and buried his nose into his scarf to keep warm.

It took Eren a little less than half an hour by foot to reach his apartment building. It was a construction with some age, but one in a fairly good condition regardless, with apartments mostly inhabited by students like Eren himself. He stepped in from the front door and walked over to the stairs. The building didn’t have an elevator, so Eren had to walk up to the fourth floor where his apartment was located. While that was slightly irritating, Eren was grateful for the warmth the indoors provided, as the cold had made his legs a bit stiff and had pinched his nose, despite his best efforts to try and protect it. 

He started to run at the last set of stairs, his hands finding the keys in his pockets in the meantime, simply excited to be home again. Home. It felt almost unnatural how fast he started to consider the two-bedroom apartment in this worn building home, and for a while he had even avoided using the term to refer to the place, but by now it felt natural.

He reached the right floor, found his keys and went over to the correct door. The printed stickers on it read “Jaeger & Arlert – no adverts please”. Eren smiled quickly at them before inserting his keys into the lock and opening the door.

“I’m home!” He announced as he stepped inside and took off his winter clothes, hanging them up to their appropriate place in the hanger on the rack by the entrance. His shoes were, however, left lying all over the floor by the door, a far cry from the other pairs that were neatly arranged to stand by the wall.

“Oh, welcome home, Eren. I hadn’t realised it was that late already.” An intimately familiar voice replied, as if on cue, from nearby and as Eren stepped out from the entrance area to the proper apartment, he could see his childhood friend and current roommate, Armin Arlert, to his right sitting at the kitchen table. Armin was on the side of the table closest to Eren, but on the seat that was further from him, as per usual. It was Armin’s spot at the table; had been since before they had moved into the same apartment. Even as a child, no matter where he’d been, Armin had favoured that one particular seat. Eren hid a smile at the familiarity of it. In front of Armin on the table was his laptop, and next to it a rather impressive pile of very thick books, which Armin was currently turned sideways away from to face Eren and properly greet him. He was in his pyjamas already, most likely for the comfort they provided, but over them had a woollen jumper to keep him warm. Armin got cold fairly easily, so during wintertime it was rare to not to see him wearing that thing around the apartment while in his pyjamas but not in bed. They were trying to cut back on their heating bills so doing that was pretty much the only option in order for him to stay warm. Armin was also wearing his reading glasses, and...

“Your hair is up.” Eren said, without really thinking about it. He hadn’t really meant to point out the obvious, but he knew Armin well enough and was comfortable enough around him not to be embarrassed when he did. 

But indeed, Armin’s chin-length blond hair was pulled up into a tiny high ponytail. It looked like it hadn’t been tied with very much thought as it was quite messy, a little too loose and not quite in the middle of his head. Due to the limited length of Armin’s hair, a few loose strands were hanging around here and there, particularly around the back of his head.

“Oh, yes.” Armin said, reaching almost subconsciously to touch his little ponytail with one hand. “It was just a moment’s impulse. But I thought this way my hair wouldn’t get into my neck I guess...”

Another thing about Armin during the winter was that his skin dried fairly easily, especially during these cold and dry days, so he had to put lotion on it so it wouldn’t itch. Armin used the lotion after showering, but hated the way his hair tended to get into his sticky neck and shoulders afterwards, especially since he’d just washed his hair. In a way, Eren was almost surprised he hadn’t thought about the ponytail before...

Still, there was something incredibly startling to see Armin’s hair in any other style than its usual, where it just laid there around his cheeks, but still managed to be incredibly neat, straight and tidy, a complete opposite of Eren’s untameable dark mess of a hair. Dare he say it, but with his hair up, wearing his reading glasses and his somewhat oversized jumper, Armin looked…really, really nice. Not in a way that one might consider appropriate to step outside in or go to school in and definitely not on a date with someone, but in a way that was a funny mix of familiar and new that spoke of comfort and ease that could only come from the years and years of friendship behind them.

Friendship…somehow, with Armin looking like that, thinking about it made something clench in Eren’s chest. To distract himself from it, he asked: “What’re you workin’ on?”

Armin smiled a little, and Eren’s chest hurt again, but in a different way. “Just my history paper. Nothing too important.”

“You’re starting on it already? Weren’t you just assigned it? I thought the deadline wasn’t until the end of March?”

“I want to get a good head start. Since it’s only our second week back at college, I don’t have that much work yet, but who knows what the situation will be like in March? I’d rather get started on it now than have to hurry with it later due to other assignments.”

“I guess that makes sense.” Eren shrugged. “But I’d have hoped you woulda had something better to do on a Friday night.”

Armin chuckled a little. “You know I have very little interest in college parties. You could probably still to go one if you wanted to. I heard Reiner was throwing one tonight.”

“Nah, don’t feel like dealing with more people tonight. I saw enough of them at the restaurant.”

Armin gave another short but genuine laugh, before turning back to properly face his computer. Eren watched his movements as he began typing again; the way his shoulders moved up and down as his hands did their magic on the keyboard, the way he would pause at points to think of a good way to express what he wanted to say and tilt his head a little to the side as he did, the way his entire body seemed to become straighter, prouder somehow when he finally got it. All of these movements and gestures were so precious, so homey, so Armin that Eren’s heart became filled with warmth as he watched them all unfold before his eyes. 

His eyes then found the back of Armin’s neck, for once not covered by his hair. Or, it was, but not nearly as well as usually. Just a few layers of incredibly thin, light and soft-looking hairs were there; those that couldn’t quite reach the little ponytail. Out of nowhere, Eren got the sudden urge to bury his nose into those hairs as he kissed that spot of Armin’s neck where it met with his shoulders. He wouldn’t even mind if Armin’s skin still tasted like lotion. His hair must be really soft and smell nice and clean since he’d just washed it...

“Eren? Is something the matter?” Armin suddenly queried, turning around in the same way as before to talk to his roommate. “You appeared to be spacing out.”

“N-no, nothing’s wrong, I’m fine...” Eren mumbled, before clearing his throat. His cheeks felt like they were on fire, having been caught staring at his freaking best friend’s neck, of all things. They weren’t the only things that felt like they had far too much blood on them right that moment though, and Eren silently and quickly prayed to every deity he knew that Armin wouldn’t notice. “I-I think I’m gonna take a shower and then head to bed.”

Armin raised a single eyebrow. “At this hour already? You?”

Eren managed a nervous laugh. “Long day at work.”

Armin shrugged. “Well, I suppose I should merely be glad that you’re going to sleep at a humanly hour for once. I’ll work a while longer and then probably head to bed myself.”

“Okay.” Eren said, wondering if he should say good night as well, but figured they’d see each other at least once before closing off to their bedrooms, so he decided against it and just headed for their small bathroom. In spite of it being winter and the low temperate of their apartment, Eren had a feeling he was going to be taking a cold shower tonight.

It was hard when your best friend whom you lived with was so hot.


End file.
